This thesis deals with the representation of the body and space in the theatre of Bernard-Marie Koltes and Helene Cixous. From the theoretical point of view, it looks at transition in French theatre from a modern to a postmodern predicament, from a discursive to a corporeal theatre. It then looks at the ways postmodern culture maps, configures, disciplines, and violates the body, particularly through the relationship of the new textuality to its stage manifestations. Textually, it analizes three plays by each playwright. The juxtaposition of the works of Koltes and Cixous allows for an in depth look at the theatre of the 1970's and 80's in France, a period marked by theatrical decentralisation and experimentation. Both favoured a strong tie to theatre practice while developing a close relationship with a theatre director: Patrice Chereau, in the case of Koltes, and Ariane Mnouchkine, in the case of Cixous. Aside from looking at the relationship with theatre practitioners, this thesis examines a number of aesthetic and political affinities which bring Koltes and Cixous together, such as redefining a postmodern mythology and a political role for theatre. Unlike many postmodernist theatre practices that try to evade political commitment, both Cixous and Koltes are preoccupied with the resistance to a nihilistic discourse, and propose an evolving and corporeal stage presence inscribed in a pluralistic space of representation. For Koltes, the body on the stage resists symbolic categorization in Combat de negre et de chiens (1979), it then becomes related to spatial reality outside language in Quai ouest (1985), and finally the corporeal body is culturally and ideologically mapped in Le Retour au desert (1988). This triple dimension is also reflected in the work of Cixous, for whom the theatre is a space of feminist praxis. First, the space of representation, through the subversive performativity of the body, questions the premises of the psychoanalytic gaze in Portrait de Dora (1976), then classical mythology is rewritten to disrupt patriarcal discourse in Le Nom d'Oedipe: chant du corps interdit (1978), and a post-colonial role for theatre is redefined in order to question the historical subject in L'Indiade ou l'lnde de leurs reves (1987). Finally, this thesis looks at the ways both Koltes and Cixous join in with postmodernism in declaring the impossibility of grand-narrative, while trying to show how identity cannot be based on essentialist categories of race, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, but on the performance of all these various categories as they intersect in the performing body.

Bien que les contextes d'écriture d'Isabelle Eberhardt et de Bernard Moitessier comptent plusieurs différences, un certain nombre de correspondances peuvent être relevées, du fait que leurs récits élaborent une poétique du dehors ancrée dans l'immensité géographique. Leur rapport aux espaces désertique et océanique soulève une même question : comment habiter l'immensité? Isabelle Eberhardt a voyagé à travers le désert du Sahara entre 1897 et 1904. Elle a poursuivi son « rêve du vieil Orient resplendissant », consignant dans ses cahiers des impressions, des nouvelles, etc., jusqu'à sa mort dans l'inondation d'Aïn Sefra. Grâce au travail éditorial de Marie-Odile Delacour et de Jean-René Huleu, ses Écrits sur le sable, appartenant aux littératures suisse, française et maghrébine, paraissent en 1988. Bernard Moitessier est un navigateur français du XXe siècle né en Indochine, dont les récits de voyage Vagabond des mers du sud, Cap Horn à la voile et La longue route racontent des traversées océaniques effectuées entre 1952 et 1969. C'est plus particulièrement son dernier récit, qui retrace les étapes d'un tour du monde et demi à la voile, en solitaire, en doublant les caps de Bonne-Espérance, Leeuwin et Horn, qui fera l'objet de notre attention. Nos analyses visent à contribuer à la réception littéraire des Écrits sur le sable et des récits de voyage en voilier de Moitessier, qui demeurent à ce jour peu étudiés. Dans le premier chapitre, nous procédons à un survol théorique des éléments de définition que propose la critique du récit de voyage. Nous recourons également aux notions d'altérité, d'exotisme et de transfuge afin de montrer que la manière dont l'espace est vécu par les voyageurs influence leur écriture. Le deuxième chapitre présente l'approche géopoétique du récit de voyage. Après un bref survol de ce qu'est la géopoétique, nous structurons l'analyse des récits d'Eberhardt et de Moitessier selon trois principes, soit la critique radicale, l'appel du dehors et le mouvement. Ce dernier s'inscrit notamment dans les cartes qui accompagnent les œuvres de notre corpus. Le récit déplie la carte, mais la modalité et les conditions du parcours influencent et parfois troublent la perception des paysages. Nous exposons dans le troisième chapitre quelques éléments constitutifs du désert et de l'océan, afin de souligner leurs différences géographiques et leurs ressemblances, notamment sur le plan de l'imaginaire. Ces deux espaces convoquent la dimension du sacré et du mythe tout en suscitant un désir de contemplation face à l'immensité. Ainsi, le nouveau rapport au monde se développe chez Isabelle Eberhardt grâce à l'acte de paysage, déclenché par le rythme des jeux de lumière sur les ergs et les regs sahariens, tandis que chez Bernard Moitessier, la dynamique de l'habiter s'opère grâce à la fusion entre le navigateur et son bateau. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Isabelle Eberhardt, Bernard Moitessier, récit de voyage, géopoétique, immensité, paysage, désert, océan, Écrits sur le sable, La longue route.

The notion of "the subject" is central methodologically to the heuristics of Bernard Lonergan, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (1957; 5th ed., 1992) is Lonergan's most significant work in which he attempts to unveil the ever-elusive dynamics of conscious being as it functions in diverse realms of human thought. Essential to this endeavor is the identification of conscious operations (acts) and their objectifications (contents). This constitutes the "semantic" burden of Insight which, consequently, ought not to be separated from Lonergan's pragmatical mode of investigation. Failure to note this dipolar structure of Insight results in misinformed analyses which are quick to make faulty ideational correlations, thereby excusing out of hand any ingenuity on the part of Lonergan. This study attempts to reverse such trends by examining certain basic relations of the thinking subject in Insight (i.e. "experience" and "understanding"), and by developing the dynamics of such a relation in the larger context of the differentiations of consciousness (i.e. "intellectual" and "religious"), a concept that is brought to full fruition in Lonergan's widely read Method in Theology (1972).

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

”Terrorism” is a term widely used today. It and its effects are portrayed and discussed innewspapers, in movies, on TV. Seeing as it seems to be present in most media, it appears quite inevitable that terrorism has also found its way into literature. Two examples of novels dealing with terrorism are the American novel Terrorist, written by John Updike in 2006 and Bernard MacLaverty's Northern Irish novel Cal, written in 1983. The novels have their similarities. They share terrorism as a major theme, and both of them have a young man as a protagonist. However, they differ in both time and place. Updike's novel is set in a post-9/11 New Jersey, while Cal takes place in a Northern Ireland divided by The Troubles. Furthermore, Updike's main character is a dedicated Muslim, while the main character of Cal is a not as dedicated Catholic. Indeed, the novels might seem similar at first, but the differences are significant.The perspective to be used in this essay is ethnic. Various theories on terrorism, manipulation and race will be used with said perspective in mind. The aim is to, with the help of relevant theories, examine and analyse the terrorism and its connection to religion and ethnicity in the two novels, in order to compare them and find out whether they portray these things in a different way or not. The question I will be asking, and thus the purpose of this essay, is whether the terrorismand its reasons, organisation – including influence by others – and connection to religion and ethnicity in the two novels mentioned above are similar or not. It is my belief that a comparative analysis of the novels will show that the terrorism and its connection to religion and ethnicity will not be the same in Cal as in Terrorist. One of the reasons for this is that they are set in environments that differ from each other not only geographically and chronologically, but also politically. Thus it seems likely that the reasons for and organisation of the terrorism will differ as well. Another reason is that the characters in Terrorist are more diverse than the ones in Cal, both in terms of religion and ethnicity. General theories dealing with reasons for terrorism, such as Kristopher K. Robison, Edward M. Crenshaw, and Craig J. Jenkins's theory on Islamist terrorism, according to which terrorism performed by Islamists is a reaction to the secular West (p. 2012), and Jeff Victoroff's rational choice theory, which suggests that terrorists are rational (p. 14), will be used to examine whether the characters of the two novels have different reasons for their terrorism or not.The next set of theories that will be used deal with influence, manipulation and brainwashing. Austin T. Turk suggests that a terrorist organisation often isolates its members inorder to ensure that they only have the required knowledge (p. 276), and since this can be used as a tool of manipulation, his theory will be used to examine, and compare, the level of influence and manipulation on the two protagonists. For similar reasons, I. E. Farber, Harry F. Harlow, Louis Jolyon West and Joel Rudinow's theories on manipulation, with and without deception, will be used in the comparative analysis. Finally, racial theories, like the theory of signs, which suggests that people have a tendency to divide others into categories based on their racial differences, along with theories on imperative patriotism and the Arab American stereotype will be used. According to Steven Salaita's imperative patriotism, only those who act and look American can be truly American (p. 154), and Jack G. Shaheen suggests that Arab Americans are, by many, thought to be violent Muslims (p. 23). Furthermore, analysts Mita Banerjee and Pamela Mansutti both suggest that there is in fact a connection between religion and race in Updike's novel (p. 16, p. 108). These theories and ideas will be used to analyse the connection between terrorism, ethnicity and religion, and then to compare the two novels, whereupon a conclusion will be drawn. I believe that this conclusion will indeed confirm my thesis.

One of the great paradoxes of the medieval period is the Albigensian Crusade (1209-1225), in which monks of the Cistercian Order took an active and violent role in campaigning against the heretics of the Languedoc. Why, and how, did this order officially devoted to prayer and contemplation become one of the prime orchestrators of one of medieval Europe’s most gruesome affairs? This thesis seeks to answer that question, not by looking at the crusading Cistercians themselves, but at their predecessor Bernard of Clairvaux, who—I will argue—made the Albigensian Crusade possible by making it permissible for monks to intervene in the world outside the cloister. The logic of this thesis is as follows. Bernard of Clairvaux lived in a world in which monastics had a certain spiritual authority that granted them special privileges over ecclesiastics (Chapter II). The Cistercian Order itself, even before Bernard became their prime mover and shaker, used these privileges to cultivate contacts beyond monastic borders (Chapter IV), and once Bernard became a prominent abbot himself, his desire to do good and criticisms of the outside world (Chapter VI) led him to intervene in various endeavors (Chapter V). These interventions drew backlash from other monastics and ecclesiastics, which then required justification in order to reconcile the vita passiva and Bernard’s active lifestyle (Chapter VII). These justifications, along with Bernard’s justifications of violence (Chapter VIII), came to more broadly characterize the Cistercian Order as a whole (Chapters I, IV), and thus the ideological material to justify monastic holy war was all present in eloquently defended and rapturously accepted form by the time Henry of Clairvaux took a castle during his 1281 preaching mission turned mini-crusade (Chapter IX). With all of this built into the Cistercian DNA, Arnaud Amaury found it very easy to lead a crusade in 1212. Could he have done this without Bernard’s example paving the way and ingraining such lessons in Cistercian thought? It is my contention that he could not have.

Zugl.: München, Univ., Diss., 2004

Thesis (M.A.)--Villanova University, 2007. / English Dept. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Baylor University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 82-85)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2005. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 261-272). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.